USA

By
Compiled from wire service reports by Ross Atkin /
December 10, 2008

Five Blackwater Worldwide guards, facing charges of killing 14 innocent Iraqis, will stand trial in Washington instead of Utah, their preferred site. A federal judge on Monday denied their request and ordered them to report Jan. 6 to a D.C. courthouse. One defendant lives in Utah, where it's thought jurors might be more sympathetic to the guards, all decorated military veterans, who maintain they were only responding to an imminent car-bomb attack in Baghdad in 2007.

President Bush on Tuesday called for Zimbabwe PresidentRobert Mugabe to step down, in a strongly worded statement in which he described Mugabe's rule as tyrannical.

In recognition of the trend toward online journalism, thePulitzer Board announced Monday that it will expand its “tent” to consider newspapers and stories that are published only online in selecting winners of the prestigious industry awards.

After developing mechanical problems, a military jet ona training flight over a San Diego suburb crashed and killed three people while destroying two homes. A fourth person was listed as missing, but the pilot, who was en route between an offshore aircraft carrier and the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, ejected safely.

A Bush administration effort to reduce New York-area air traffic was blocked Monday when a federal appeals court in Washington granted a delay until objections can be heard to a plan to auction some landing slots at three airports – LaGuardia, Kennedy, and Newark. Auctioning the slots, the White House asserts, could improve system efficiency and lessen delays.

To counter the exposure beer ads receive during the SuperBowl, the Marin Institute, an alcohol industry watchdog, announced Tuesday a first-of-its-kind antibeer ad contest for youths, 13 to 20, Their videos will be collected using YouTube.